Hi, everyone, I haven't been on in a while. But, for those who don't know me, I'm Melody.

Anyway, after eating like a pig during the first half of college, I've decided to eat better, and I'm already feeling a lot healthier.

I started watching what I eat last week, and I've been staying within my calories all week. I'm 5'1, so the amount of calories I need to eat in order to lose is between 1,200 and 1,400 calories. This is what I've been doing.

Because I'm still trying to find time in my schedule, I haven't incorporated exercise yet, but I will very soon.

During the first few days, the pounds just kept coming off. But when I got into the middle of the week, I suddenly stopped losing. I waited for 4 days, and there still was no difference on the scale. I thought that the first few weeks of weight-loss were supposed to be fast-paced and the pounds should be coming off. Why aren't they?

Could it be that the first pounds I lost were water weight and my body just needs time to catch up with the weight-loss? And if that's the case, how long will it take for my body to start losing weight again?

This is my first week, and it's already hard enough to stay on plan. Not losing isn't helping my motivation..

- Melody

You are expecting too much too soon. Weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week is healthy. You weigh 137.5 pounds according to your ticker so you loss will be slower than someone with more to lose.

By medical definition, a plateau occurs when your weight stays the same for SIX weeks. You should not be weighing every day if you can't handle the normal fluctuations in weight. Actually, the scale is not the best measure of success. You can be a normal weight and have too much body fat.

Weight loss occurs in a 4-6 week cycle so you need to track things for at least 2 months so you can see the pattern your body takes to losing weight.

And do try to make time for exercise. If you don't, you will lose muscle as well as fat.

You are off to a good start so keep on doing what you have been and you will reach your goal.

You're right.. I'm just impatient, lol.

I will start exercising soon.

Thanks.

I am exactly your height and started at 140 too!
I was the same, i lost 4 lbs so quickly and since then it has been pretty slow ive noticed however, tha it tends to stop for ages, then all of a sudden i'll drop a couple of pounds in a few days...
Its taken 2 months to lose 14lbs, but im so happy
good luck!
Cat
x

You might try interval training and zig zag dieting to get things revved up again. I am sure you aren't on a plateau this soon.

Yes.

No telling.

Seriously this made me laugh out loud. And I don't mean that in a nasty way ... I just got the giggles. If you're having a hard time with motivation after one week .. you probably shouldn't read the threads about people like me who have taken a year+ to lose 70 lbs. Or people who will tell you that this is a plan that you'll need to commit to staying on for life, if you want to maintain your weight loss.

Seriously ... breathe. Life doesn't happen overnight, no matter what expectations the Internet and our "have it now" society want you to believe.

And a week is NOT a plateau. A week doesn't even count as a blip. And you haven't even hit a week of no weight loss yet ... just a few days.

AS someone else pointed out, a healthy weight loss rate is about 1% of your body weight per week. At 140 lbs, that means you should anticipate an AVERAGE of 1.4 lbs per week. Notice I said AN AVERAGE. That means some weeks you might not lose a pound. That means on some weeks, especially around your period, you might even GAIN weight (water weight mostly). That means over a period of time, you can expect to average 1.4 pounds.

.

So, I guess my post was a bit um, over-dramatic?

Especially from everyone's reaction.

I know that I'll still lose weight and everything.. I just tend to be really hard on myself and when I don't lose weight after a really good day, I get depressed and feel like "Why bother?"

I KNOW that my motivation should be a lot higher than it is, especially since it's only a week in... I gotta keep looking toward my goal.

Thanks for giving me a reality check, guys..

You're going to have to lose this expectation. NO ONE loses weight every single day. No one. Really. I promise.

You may lose in fits and starts. You may have a few days of good loss and then a few days of nothing. You may, like I said, have days that you gain weight - if you eat too much salt, if you're starting your period, whatever.

Speaking very seriously now: You have to let go of unrealistic expectations or you're going to fail before you begin. The more unrealistic you are about how you're going to lose weight, the more you're setting yourself up to fail.

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I echo that. There is not even a pattern that you can count on. I can lose 1/2 pound a day for a couple of days and then nothing for 3-4 days then I could lose 2 lbs- or not. You just have to believe that you are doing all of the right things and the weight will come off and it will. I do weigh every day- many don't for just the reasons you are mentioning. I only count my end of the week weight- daily weighing is just for my own personal monitoring. Find out what works for you- maybe you need to weigh in only weekly

Sometimes it takes 2 weeks for me to see results ... i think what you lost at first was mostly water weight.. and that's why you lost it so fast , i experienced the same thing. But the weight you lose slowly you will notice the most.. even if its just a pound

Patience! You're doing exactly what you should be, just give your body and scale time to catch up.

It sounds like you might want to lock that scale in the closet and only take it out for your official weekly weigh-in.

It's hard, really HARD, for me to not get on the scale every day, but by only getting on the scale on Monday mornings, it sort of forces me to take a longer term approach.

*sigh* Y'all are all right..

I can't let the scale get to me. I know that I'm doing everything right.. and I feel a lot better doing it too.

I should look at my body and ask myself how I feel instead of letting the scale decide on a daily basis.

Thanks for the tough love, guys.

All of your comments are making me feel better.

I'm not giving up!
I'll be making a success thread someday.

Again, thanks.

Or people like me who've taken three+ years just to get to the halfway point. It's frustrating, and I seem to hit a plateau (a real one -- first one lasted a year) every 30 pounds, but I'm going to have to keep doing this for life, so in the end, what does it matter?

Keep at it. You'll lose slowly since you're already pretty small, but it'll happen. My suggestion is to put the scale away and only pull it out once a week. Better yet, once a month. It's tough to break the scale habit, but you can do it.

Quick update: After seeing 137.5 this morning again, I decided that I get way too frustrated to weigh myself everyday.

I'm going to weigh every Saturday and only then.